Mark and Julie's Homemade Ice Cream Rocks

While eating dinner, we were discussing dessert and Mark and Julie's ice cream seemed like an appropriate answer. I never had heard of the place and was intrigued right away, especially once I was told it was homemade ice cream and frozen yogurt and they are famous for their coffee ice cream — one of my favorites.

I am not a huge ice cream eater but when I do, I like to go to a small storefront and give my business to people who are working hard at making their ice cream from scratch. I also want to get the most bang from the calories I eat — yes, I am always looking for really good ice cream.

I was excited to visit the store at 476 Pleasant Valley Way. It is right in the middle of a few other food stores in a strip mall and can easily be missed, though the big sign smartly indicates homemade ice cream.

We walked into a rather large space with chairs to the left and the ice cream bar to the right. The décor was very basic — it is all about the ice cream here.

As I got ready to taste a few flavors, I noticed the place was quite busy, even on a weekday evening. The owner Mark was happy to show me around and tell me a bit about how they began.

Mark and Julie always knew they wanted to open a business. They were interested in starting a coffee shop when Mark's father recommended a friend in South Jersey who had his own ice cream place and made it from scratch. Sixteen years later, Mark and Julie have a successful ice cream store that serves 52 delicious flavors.

The first flavor I tried was the coffee chip, the "famous" flavor. It was as though I had brewed a perfect cup of coffee and frozen it myself — but a lot better because it was creamy, not too sweet and filled with chunks of dark chocolate. Next came cotton candy, the most common with kids. It tasted exactly like cotton candy on a stick but, again, without being too sweet. The sweetness is key when eating ice cream. Most brands are overly sweet without a lot of flavor.

I am partial to fruity flavors and wanted to try the raspberry, which was delicious. I felt a burst of tang and sweetness in my mouth.

Cookie dough was next- the dough chunks from David's Cookies were paired with large chunks of dark chocolate. For someone who doesn't usually enjoy such flavors, it was really good.

I was waiting to try the next one for a while — raspberry truffle. This was Mark's creation. Chocolate ice cream with chocolate truffles filled with raspberries, purchased from Gertrude Hawk chocolates. How can you go wrong with such a combination? You can't, it was amazing.

Oreo was made just the right way with the right amount of crushed Oreos dispersed over the ice cream.

Coconut was actually an accident. While making the custard-like ice cream, someone added toasted coconut instead of the regular kind and discovered that it tasted amazing — and it did.

The Swiss chocolate almond was delicious with chocolate-covered almonds. Mark decided to create a flavor with almonds as he grew up with a lot of nuts at home and loved eating chocolate-covered almonds.

Vanilla peanut butter swirl came next. I am not a huge peanut butter fan, but I thought the treat had a fresh peanut flavor.

Rainbow sherbert came next. I was under the impression sherbert-like sorbet was made with juice, fruit and sugar. I was wrong — sherbert has cream in it, as well. This one was tangy and fruity and quite good.

Last, but not least, were the frozen yogurts. Two flavors, Mark informed me were the most popular: the raspberry chip and the coffee chip. Both of them tasted the same, as their ice cream counterparts. I was quite amazed how creamy the low fat yogurts were. I could see why they were so popular.

Before leaving, I sampled the soft-serve Frogurt that is the same low fat yogurt Bloomingdales has been serving for years. The Caribbean coffee always is amazing. Mark carries some other flavors as well including Dutch chocolate.

I also tasted something called only 8 frozen yogurt, which is a soft serve yogurt made with just eight ingredients and is quite healthy with only 32 calories per half cup. The down side is that it tastes like cardboard. I tried the chocolate and couldn't go near the vanilla.

Mark and Julie make soft and hard ice cream cakes priced from $16.25 to $39.95. They have the usual sundaes $3.69 to $5.56 with lots of toppings including sugar-free fudge. 

A kid size ice cream is $1.86 and rest range from $2.57 to $4.63.

Before I left, I got a kiddie-sized cup of raspberry chip yogurt — it was delicious, creamy and an ideal treat without a lot of calories.

Rating: OOO (three oranges)